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27 Proven ESL Games for Large Classes (40-50 students)

I work at a high school in Thailand and my job is to teach obscenely large classes. One thing I’ve learned: handling a hoard of 40-50 students in a single classroom requires games. A whole mess of games. Unless you’ve got a few activities in your back pocket at all times, the classroom might turn into a scene from Lord of the Flies. To prevent that from happening, you can always refer to this list of 27 proven ESL games for large classes.

Kevin’s List of Proven ESL Games for Large Classes

Most of these games require little more than a whiteboard/blackboard and your imagination. Keep score by writing tally marks on the board.

1. Introduction Games

——Game 1——–

A perfect game for the first day of school.

Break the class into 4 to 5 teams.

Recite a short story about yourself listing 15 to 20 facts about where you’re from, your hobbies, etc.

After you recite the story, ask the class questions about specifics from your story.

6. Connect Four

Draw a 6×6 grid on the board. Over each column, write words that students typically have difficulty with.

Right, Light, Clown, Crown, Stay, Stray, Bat, Bath, True, Through, …

Spit the class into 2 teams: black circles and white circles.

Draw circles in the grid corresponding with the word the student pronounces. Often times, you’ll hear light when the student wants to say right, but you must place the circle in the column of the word that you hear.

This game forces students to pronounce problem words correctly, otherwise they’ll lose.

Pick students at random to keep the class focused.

7. Telephone

Break the class into 2 teams.

Both teams form a line to the board, starting in the back of the classroom.

Stand in the back of class and whisper a short sentence to the first student in each line.

The students whisper the sentence all the way down the line until it reaches the front of class. The student in front of class writes the sentence on the board.

It doesn’t count for a point unless the sentence is perfect.

8. World Traveler

Ask the class, “If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?”

Elicit different countries from students and write them all on the board.

Once you’ve listed a bunch of countries on the board, break the class into 4 or 5 teams.

Have a list of historical landmarks and their corresponding countries prepared in advance (Eiffel Tower: France, Pyramids: Egypt, Statue of Liberty: U.S.A., etc.)

This activity is a great time-killer. With a large class, the list can get huge.

ESL Games for Large Classes – Art Activities

Quiet activities like drawing are a great way to get the kids active and engaged without exhausting yourself while you referee games. Plus, after a ton of games, the students will probably be ready for a change of pace themselves.

With art activities, prepare an example that you have drawn yourself. Show the class your example and they’ll grasp the concept quickly. Pass out blank sheets of paper and watch as the class becomes silent and focused on their ESL artwork.

27. Family Art

You can make it as difficult as you want, depending on the level of the students.

For my lower level students, I had each student draw their family tree.

For my highest level students, I had them draw their immediate family member and write 2 short sentences about each.

“This is my mother. She is a very kind person because she takes care of me.” etc.

“This is my brother. He is funny because he tells jokes.” etc.

Conclusion

You might be familiar with some of these games. Others, I created myself. I’ve personally tested each one of these ESL games and they’ve all earned my seal of approval. I hope this list gives you some ideas and inspiration. Feel free to change the variables and grammar in any of the games to suit a particular lesson. Good luck!

Hi Kevin. I teach art students at a college in Suphanburi and came to your blog just now looking for ideas on how to include drawing in the classroom. Some good ones here.

One that I use which goes down well is shapes and prepositions. Draw simple shapes on the board so the kids learn the English terms. Then teach prepositions (next to, beside, in, underneath etc). Then draw two or three shapes and get them to describe the picture (The square is next to the triangle. A circle is beneath the square etc). Then split the class into teams. Have one member of each team come out the front and then sit facing his team with a piece of paper (he can’t see the board). Draw picture shapes on the board. Those in the team who can see the board have to describe it to their member who cannot and he has to draw the picture. First correct finish wins the points. As a final picture, draw a face and or robot.

Hi I was thinking about moving to Thailand.. I have enough saved up for flight and maybe about 2 months for living.. I would need to find a job fast!! How easy is the course and how long before I can start teaching and making money?

Tasha, if you take a TESOL course, each one varies in length and difficulty, I’d imagine. The course I participated in was a 3-week, 120 hour on-site course in Thailand, with job placement guaranteed. If you have enough for 2 months, you should be fine. It takes just about 2 months to start receiving paychecks if you go with a TESOL program like mine. Hope this helps.

There’s no need of any TESOL. Please don’t lie to us.
When you like to make money so go teach. Don’t lie to newbies about any stupid program.
TO ALL NEWBIES YOU NEED ONLY A UNIVERSITY DEGREE DON’T BELIEVE ALL RUBBISH ON THE WEB.
YOU need help ?
Send me a mail

It’s true that you only need a degree to get hired for a teaching job… but that depends on where you live and what your goals are. Some places DO require more certifications, and more certifications DO get you more money.
He isn’t lying. It’s HIS experience. Stop being so rude.

As an English, English Teacher in Thailand, I can confirm you need a Degree, and a TESOL or TEFL qualification. Jobs are not easy to get here as there is a lack of Government funding for foreign Teachers. Each school I have taught at struggle to get the funding to keep us employed, so you could be teaching at one school for 3 months, then another for 6 months etc, and then nothing for several months. The pay is poor, so you would need to ensure you have funds saved should you need to fly home, as you would struggle to save flight money on the salary. Next, obtaining visas are not easy, schools will not do it unless they can get you funded full time for 12 months or more.

However the kids are wonderful, fun, eager and a constant joy to work with.

You don’t need a TESOL or TEFL for Thailand, Tony. Also, it may well be that government schools struggle with funding, but there are plenty of private schools across Thailand that are able to support you for 12 months. The private schools no doubt pay a lot more than what you’re getting at government schools too – it depends on what you consider a poor salary. It’s possible to be getting 4 times the national average salary and upwards with benefits too. Of course, against an English salary that still doesn’t amount to much, but in Thailand it can keep you comfortable for sure.

Oh these are brilliant! I´m working in Ecuador, where the classes are pretty big, and there´s one grade in particular who need constant games to stop the class turning into a scene from Lord of the Flies, as you so rightly put it! 😉

Hey, Kev. This is some good stuff! I’m Thai but I’ll definitely be teaching ESL in a few years after I get my qualifications. I’m not sure these games will work for the older ones (i.e. college students), but as a Thai with no originality, I’ll take some of your ideas. Hope you don’t mind 😀

You’re right about using these games with college ESL students: It won’t work. I’m teaching college right now in China and these games are waay too easy for the students. I haven’t even tried to play any of them.

College students are more interested in practicing conversational English and learning about foreign culture than playing games. Good luck teaching in a few years!

Cool blog mate, I’ve used some of your games in my classes and they are great!

I’ve just started teaching in a language centre in Hangzhou and although these games are awesome, I am having a hard time thinking of decent games for smaller classes (I’m talking 4 kids or less). Lately cards and UNO have been an absolute saviour!! But for the smaller kids who can’t really maintain focus for long, or understand English enough for me to explain the rules, I need some activities to get them up and talking in English!

The work books for the kids here absolutely suck, the flash cards are nonsense and the overall style is frustrating (I am not a fan of the parents constantly sticking their noses in the classrooms!). Also it is quite futile in many ways because I sometimes only see the same kids once and then never again, so i don’t usually get to follow up on anything!

I feel like a lot of my classes sometimes just get wasted away because the kids obviously don’t want to be there (especially at 8pm on a weeknight) and therefore I just need something to get them laughing even if it is just 2 kids in the room.

Congrats, Kevin! I really loved all these games. I’ll put some of them in practice soon. Working with large groups are always a challenge, and most of the games that I use in class only works with smaller groups.
Thank you!
Well done! 😀

hey man, ive been teaching in nong khai thailand for the last year, and just want to commend on this list, and really on the rest of your blog…the majority of crap online is unusable for teaching in thailand, and games like this are sooo needed but its hard to find/think of games that actually work. im sure you understand that feeling! anyways, thanks man, lookin forward to reading more

Thanks for sharing these ideas Kevin. I will most certainly be adapting some of them. I will be moving to Thailand in a few months to teach English and was struggling to think of how to keep such large groups motivated. However, these games should not only keep students motivated but also encourage full participation. You are a star!!

Your blog rocks. I leave for my teaching job in Thailand in May and I have been pretty anxious, but after reading some of your posts I know I’m headed in the right direction. Thank you for your awesome attitude and helpful posts!

This is a decent list and many of these games can be modified to cater to different age groups. It totally shows that you taught in Thailand. I currently am and have used some of these before. Kids definitely like competition between teams in the classroom.. There have been times when i actually had to plug my ears because the kids were going so crazy, but they were using English at the same time which made it a success. I will surely use some of these to take a day off from the textbook. Much obliged.

Some great games here, thanks a million. I’m teaching in China, all different ages. i was looking for different games to mix it up a little instead of the same one’s i’ve tried and tested. Will try these out in my next lessons!!

Kevin, lots of good ideas that are commonly used & usually effective when done right.

I might make a suggestion, though.

I have used a many of these for years & splitting large classes into only two teams allows for way too much inactivity on the part of most students.

If, as you say, you have classes of 40-50 kids and only two are engaged in the actual activity, how does it benefit the other 38-48, aside from simply listening & observing?

In my experience, students lose interest quickly if they aren’t a part of the action.

I would recommend more groups/teams but smaller numbers. I usually split my classes (30-40) into groups of roughly six.

This allows for greater engagement & far less inactivity from the majority of students.

I hope this isn’t taken as an insult. I just thought it might be good for others to be aware of the difficulty in managing and engaging large classes when only a couple students are actively involved in what is happening.

Again, Just my two cents….from 10 years of experience as a certified classroom teacher in the States and 6 more as a university EFL professor in Asia.

Hey Kevin, Ive been teaching at a language centre in Vietnam these last 4 years. In just a few days time I’ll begin teaching at a high school so will jump from my usual 15 – 20 student class size to 40 plus. This is new for me. Im so thankful to see some new games that are also suitable for big classes. The fact that they are great games that require little to no preparation is music to my ears.
Cheers

I just wanted to let you know that these games have worked really well for me. Thanks a lot. I teach first year college students and run an English club in Indonesia. My biggest challenge is engaging multi-level students at once, and the sentence jumble especially really helped my students use English.

I’ve noticed though that since my classes are between 30-40 when I do two team games, half the class gets nervous and refuses to participate. So I started splitting them into more groups. It’s more easy to manage for me. Good luck with all your work!

Hello Kevin,
Thank you so much for posting your ideas. I am an ALT in a Japanese high school. At times, working with a class full of 30-40 students can be exhausting. These games are exactly what I need. I think my students are getting tired of my usual games. Time to spice things up a bit!

You should never force a student tup to the front of the class to read to the rest of the class. Have you never heard that peoples’ number one fear – greater than death – is public speaking. Not every kid I outgoing and confident. Those who have never had this fear or experience (which, I guess, includes yourself) can not possibly understand the sheer horror for a shy, socially anxious person to be centre I attention. It is very cruel. And before anyone supposed it as some sort of exposure therapy: You wouldn’t throw in to a phone box/booth full of snakes a person with a debilitating fear of those creatures, would you?

I reiterate: You must never have experienced it. I’m speaking from experience. The terror of anxiety is awful. It’s ignorant, cruel, non empathic. It’s got nothing to do with reaching your potential. You don’t throw a non swimmer in to the deep end and leave him there in order for them to to reach their potential as a swimmer, do you? You don’t get it. It’s a form of social anxiety and this has to be worked through. You should make it an option not force people to get up. Its a game to you and rest of class, but not them.

Not everyone suffers from chronic social anxiety. Most, given enough practice, become more comfortable speaking publicly. You can’t suit your lesson to suit every single student in a classroom, but you can vary your lessons day by day to reach everyone at their own style of learning throughout the semester/year. I have a feeling that, no matter what material I’d prepare, you could poke holes in it, not because it’s a bad idea, but because your perspective limits your outlook to only your own worldview, which–from what I’ve gathered–is quite pessimistic and overprotective.

Cheers Kevin! Have been teaching for 9 years and have a tinderbox of games up my sleeve… but it’s always good to hear and learn off other teachers for fresh ideas! Will be using some of these today! Thanks again!

Kevin,
I have been teaching ESL classes for the last 5 years and its not easy! The only way I get my class to be more interactive is to play games and I loved each and every one you ahd listed. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to list them!
Cheers!

For the record, it depends on where you are teaching. I don’t have a University degree but a TEFL 220 hour Master Course qualification. I went for an interview in Saigon-Vietnam for a job teaching, They asked me about a degree but I told them what I had. They not only hired me straight away but have put me in public schools teaching English, with classes of 40+ students!! I also keep receiving emails asking me to cover classes all around the city. So don’t be put off if you don’t have a Uni degree.

I love this!!! I have thought about teaching abroad…but I am deathly stage fright. I know it is not really a stage but for me it is the same. Although I love kids and have worked with children a few years as a teacher’s aide within the classroom…the thought of all eyes being on me holds me back from taking the leap.
I homeschooled my own child after he endured bullying and school became traumatic. Everything had to be fun or feel like a game or he was not receptive. This entire page is full of great ideas!!!

How can you say this, Bob? To say there is no actual teaching involved is ludicrous. I understand that teaching in private English academies can be more like babysitting at times, but I’ve been teaching at a public school this past year and a half and I’ve always felt that the students are ready and willing to learn, with the exception of a few. It helps that I have a Chinese assistant in my classroom with me, but I make sure the students learn as best they can. This means creating lessons that are as engaging as possible – chunking the lesson with a song, oral English, some writing, and yes, a game such as one of the great games from this website that reinforces the students’ learning. Being a teacher back in New Zealand prior to teaching in China has obviously helped me too, but I have utter confidence that my students come away after each lesson with a better knowledge of English.

Doubtful.. “chunking the lesson with a song”? You don’t chunk activities, my friend, you chunk thoughts or bits of thoughts in order to improve memory retention in LTM. Try another buzzword.

Doesn’t matter how “ready and willing” to learn students are. Are they actually learning? Or are they just having a good time playing games and then telling you that you’ve done a good job because you’ve made them happy for a short time, but they’ve actually learned nothing from you?

I teach at a college that has an ESL program. It’s hilarious how many “teachers” come back from teaching overseas for any number of years and have no idea how to manage a classroom, how to teach either real life or academic English, have no real ability to connect with students on a meaningful level, and have no idea how to lesson plan, scaffold learning, or recycle material. For most of them it’s just one game after another. Or they are on the other end, “teacher trainers” who talk about behaviorism, rationalism, constructivism but then have zero idea about they can apply any of this to a classroom and can’t teach at all… but they too rely on these tired old games and worksheets because in the end they have no idea what they are doing. Yes, some of these people actually have post-secondary degree in Education but they made the mistake of going overseas where there is no accountability, no professional development, and no standards for foreign teachers, so they learned nothing themselves and developed little.

I’m a ‘kiwi’ who has been living in Daqing, China for a year now. I’ve used at least 10 of these games in the classroom along with a few other obvious esl games such as 20 questions, Bingo etc. I tweak things a little at times, but these games have been a life saver for me when trying to teach approximately 60 students per class in a public elementary school. These games and activities are much better than a lot of the other stuff out there on the internet in my opinion, especially for very large class sizes. Hence, the title of the blog post. Kevin, you rock!

Lord of the flies perfectly sums up my 45 kids in a class strong in Phrae, Northern Thailand! I honestly have to say – I’ve just looked at your website this morning, trying to figure out how to get the control back and have been using a few of the games throughout today – they’ve gone down an absolute storm. Connect four and the story telling particularly! We’ve had some hilarious stories come up and both of the games have pulled the classes concentration together brilliantly.
Thank you so much for the help!

p.s. I saw you taught in Nan? Planning a trip there in the next few days – so will be checking out your blog for any tips on where to go to drink / eat / see etc.
Thanks!

WOW THESE ARE DOWNRIGHT AWESOME. THANK YOU SO MUCH. YOU SAVED MY LESSON TODAY AND AS THEY SAY, IF THE TEACHER IS EXCITED SO WILL THE STUDENTS BE!! I’M SUPER EXCITED TO USE A LOT OF THESE GAMES/ACTIVITIES.